Moewt ik nu onder elke steen een duiveltje gaan zoeken
"De vraag was: "Moet ik nu onder elk steentje kijken of er niet een duiveltje zit ?"
Hello David,
You wrote: ........ I believe that we all (or at least most of us) have had an encounter with or have let ourselves be influenced by an untoward spirit. In fact, there is someone on the forum right now who I believe is letting themselves be affected by some kind of spirit and I don't mean the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes we can believe we are receiving guidance from the Holy Spirit when it's actually the prince of the air doing the talking. Since scripture tells us he can appear as an angel of light if we aren't close to Jesus we can not discriminate and if we don't use Jesus name or pray in the name of Jesus we cannot guard against the spirit or make it go away.
I don't look for demons under every rock but know they are there, can affect us, and are scriptural with at least two kinds being mention: demons that caused illness and demons that caused insanity. I'll write more on this later. ............. My answer: I should like to give some new supply to what you already said. Satan with his helpers has spoiled us all. Just as he peeped at Kain and at certain moment said : "Aha...this is the good smell", (Genesis 4 v 7) he is watching all people. And because he is invisible, he can snatch us already in our childhood and so Romans 3 v 23 can say: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God ".
And of course people can think that the Holy Spirit is speaking to them , but it is in fact the devil, who has transformed himself into an angel of light, (2 Corinthians 11 v 14). But it is this: we have not made open all the rooms of our spiritual life to the Holy Spirit, who wishes to live in us, but eagerly wishes too to have all the keys of all the rooms. You can give those keys to him by constant praying and telling everything to him quite openly without hiding any circumstance.
But....if your room is closed or if more than one room is closed, the devil makes it a dressing-room for himself. He puts on his 'angle-suit' and comes out to stupify everything.
And if you are one of these people, who has not given up all the keys, then you begin to be in error.
But if you are going on with the Holy Spirit, you also get the gifts of the Spirit. You know them all (Romans 12 v 7- 11) : -wisdom, knowledge, faith - gifts of healing, miraculous powers, - prohecy, ABILITY TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN SPIRITS - different kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues
And if you exercise your gift of 'distinguish between spirits', you get a powerful weapon against satan.
Let us furthermore read Ephesians 6 v 12: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood , but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms".
Now you say, that you don't seek a demon under every rock. But in fact it is like this. Ephesians say, that it is the main , the only struggle.
Look, what happened to me when I was six years of age. .............. We had been to the sands near the river. I had played all the day. My older sister said: "Now we go home, to eat Mother is waiting for us". Then a sudden anger awoke in me, as I had never felt before in my very, very young life. I took my little sand scoop and stroke her so that her lip began to bleed. When I saw that, a panic arose in my mind as I had never felt before and I ran from there. Of course later on all these things were settled, but I am sure of one thing: at that moment a demon began his first attact on this young child. ......... Later on, when I was- say - fourteen, I was a real bad boy. I have done very many bad things, just as David said in Psalm 25 v 7: "Remember- oh Lord- not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways" Later on....as happens to most young people I learned to be a bit civilized, to adapt to society, but that is of course not the same as repentance and conversion. They came to me still later on. But that is another story.
But.....see the devil everywhere, but not in a shy way....: "What shall happen to me", but in a conquering way: "This shall happen to him...in the name of Jesus".